Evansville’s All-MVC duo targets NCAA Tournament berth

Maybe this is the season we find out what Evansville basketball wants to be. Or can be.

D.J. Balentine knows the outcome he wants to see.

“It will definitely be a failure of a season if we don’t make the NCAA Tournament,” he said. “That’s been my ultimate goal since I’ve been here.”

The Aces last played in the NCAA Tournament in 1999, last won more than 10 Missouri Valley Conference games the same season and finished fifth or lower 14 of the past 16 seasons. That seems a shame for a program that played in either the NIT or the NCAA six times between 1989 and 1999 and won five NCAA College Division titles between 1959 and 1971.

Basketball matters at Evansville, a private school with an enrollment of 2,822. Or, it used to.

In 2000, the Aces drew an average of 8,337 fans to Roberts Stadium. Last season: 4,224 at the four-year-old Ford Center in downtown Evansville.

During this long decline into mediocrity, it hasn’t been clear if Evansville is capable of winning big again or how many people care. Fans got a taste of postseason success with five wins in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament last season. The Aces return five starters and are picked second in the MVC. All-MVC picks Balentine, a high-scoring guard, and center Egidijius Mockevicius are back for their senior seasons.

Mockevicius, who averaged 12.5 points and and MVC-leading 9.9 rebounds last season, considered turning pro after his junior year. He returned to finish his education — and get the Aces into the NCAA Tournament.

“I believe we can do it,” he said. “It’s definitely reachable for us.”

Coach Marty Simmons took over a slumping program in 2007 and solidified it, finishing in the top half of the MVC three times in the past four seasons. His Colt Ryan-led teams finished in a tie for third in 2012 and fourth in 2013 before rebuilding with Balentine and Mockevicius.

His top seven scorers are back and the roster is filled with three seniors and eight juniors. Depth problems in the frontcourt should be alleviated by 6-foot-7 forward Willie Wiley, a junior who redshirted last season, and 7-1 center Sergej Vucetic, a transfer from Nebraska who redshirted last season.

“This is probably the best (team), with the experience coming back, that we probably have had,” Simmons said. “There’s nothing easy about this league.”

Winning the CIT title erased some of the sting from a 9-9 MVC record. The Aces started 6-3, including a win over Northern Iowa, before slumping in February. They lost two overtime games. Home losses to Loyola (71-70) and Bradley (56-53) stung even more.

“We’ve gone through a lot of those close games and it comes down to execution, just attention to detail,” Simmons said. “We’ve really got to get over the hump if we’re going to be a good team.”

Balentine said Simmons pushes up the intensity in practice in the final 30 minutes in an effort to push through some of those late-game struggles. The Aces led Illinois State most of the final five minutes at home in the regular-season finale, but couldn’t build the lead past three points. They lost 69-67 in overtime. The teams met in the quarterfinals of the MVC Tournament and Illinois State won 71-67.

“We lost a lot of games in the last two or three minutes,” Balentine said. “We just need to finish it out.”

Experience and postseason success are assets other Valley teams can claim.

Thirty-three starters return, a number surpassed only by last season’s 36 since the 2009-10 season. With Balentine’s average of 20.1 points leading the way, eight of the top 10 scorers return. Five of the top 10 rebounders are back and all five assists leaders return.

Wichita State won two NCAA Tournament games. Northern Iowa won one. Illinois State went 1-1 in the NIT and Loyola went 5-0 to win the College Basketball Invitational. Extra practices, extra games, confidence and fan support are some of the benefits of playing in March, even if the postseason tournament isn’t widely known.

“To get into a one-and-done situation in March, a tournament setting, our guys felt the excitement,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said. “It has only propelled them this summer, in their workouts, their togetherness. Obviously, our sights are on the NCAA Tournament, but it’s proven that experience, you can’t put a price tag on it.”

Last season, the MVC put five teams in the top 100 of the RPI. It also suffered from four teams — Missouri State, Drake, Southern Illinois, Bradley — ranked 237 or worse. The Valley earned an at-large bid — WSU — for the third time in the past four seasons. Perhaps those are signs the post-Creighton transition can be more fruitful than anticipated for the MVC.

Last season, Northern Iowa emerged as an experienced team that bounced into the national rankings and the NCAA Tournament. Evansville can follow a similar path this season. If it doesn’t, it could be a long time before the Aces get another opportunity.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 11:02 PM with the headline "Evansville’s All-MVC duo targets NCAA Tournament berth."